So, what is it?

[Hatchetman]

After seeing Dewey's "Junkie" post It got me thinking... I wanted to post a related question but didn't really want to highjack.

So, what is it that the deer are really smelling, specifically?
Boots, clothes, dead skin cells, breath mist fallout???

I'm referring exclusively to ground scent(scent laid out by the hunter going to and from)

I just hate it when I see a big old lady doe come along, cut my boot tracks and start tracking me to the stand. A lot of times it doesn't end up good and I'm starting to think rubber boots are NOT the way to go?
Pick up any rubber boot, stick it up to your nose and you'll smell the rubber. (new ones are terrible).
I think they are not actually even smelling human scent, just the dang rubber, otherwise why would they track you down if they associated the scent with a human?

Honestly, I have no clue if rubber boots are the problem or not.

For those of you old enough to have watched "Charlie Brown", are we all just walking around with the likes of "Pig Pen"?
Clouds of scent just pouring off our bodies from all directions? Then I guess the boots themselves don't matter.

To me, wind direction dictating stand selection is a given most hunters know is extremely important. Hunting a mature buck and not letting him know he's being hunted is the hard part. So when your gone and he comes through at 1:30 am is he going to know you where there?


I have a friend who hunts his smaller (50 acre) property. Absolutely pounds the crap out of this ground. Has like 12 stands on it and misses like only 5 days of the early season. He actually, and surprisingly does well on this piece. He knows full well he's over hunting his property but swears by just being persistent and wearing rain bibs any time he's going in or out to hunt. Says he never gets his track picked up. He takes the pants off at the base of the tree and rolls them up and stuffs em in his pack.


I make this post cause I believe a lot of you guys are in the same boat as me...


Have some private ground to hunt with pre hung stands and like to remain as undetected as possible, but also hunt public land. Public is where you do your "stand on your back" "Beast Style" hunting, limited hunts on a particular bed or travel route (ground scent here is not as big an issue here due to the limited hunts per spot)

So what tricks have any of you guys come up with to cut your "boots on the ground" presence on your private land spots?

[woodswalker]

All of the above. You will never be scent free unless you learn how not to breath and continue living. I no longer hunt archery, just firearms, but I really don't get all obsessed with scent free sprays and so called scent free clothing etc. I have two good friends who killed nice buck that were tracking their trail to their tree stand and they were not using deer urine or anything else on their boots. I also have a friend who killed a buck that was sniffing the spot where he urinated when he killed it. There are very few smells associated with humans in the state or place I hunt and unless that smell resulted in a bad experience for a deer I don't think it bothers them very much. That has been my experience.

[mheichelbech]

Not optimistic but gonna try a pair of pvc rain pants this year for the walk in. I do believe it is human scent that spooks. Other than wolves and coyotes, it's the only other predator scent around.

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[TNstalker]

I thank if ur walking through tall vegetation u live scent from ur clothes. I think the rest of he time it's ground disturbance. Just my 2 cents.

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[Jrichard]

I can say with good certainty that they are smelling your rubber boots. If they catch your human scent most of them (even the young ones) bolt out of there. I think Woodswalker hit it on the head. If they dont have a bad experience with the smell there is no way for them to determine if the smell is coming from a human, unless there is human scent. The woods are filled with all sorts of different kinds of smells. Some aren't even strong enough for a human to smell.

A guy I hunt with has an amazing nose. The wind was blowing in our face and he goes "I can smell a buck" I was like WTH is this guy nuts? sure enough a buck comes strolling out of the pine trees where the does bed.

But like I said there are smells out there we cant even smell but they can. And if they ran from every smell they caught wind of they wouldnt be considered so lazy hahaha

[Horizontal Hunter]

A guy I hunt with has an amazing nose. The wind was blowing in our face and he goes "I can smell a buck" I was like WTH is this guy nuts? sure enough a buck comes strolling out of the pine trees where the does bed.

Smelling bucks isn't uncommon during the rut. I have a mediocre nose and have smelled them. Hard rutting bucks can get pretty stinky.

Bob

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[Razorhead]

A guy I hunt with has an amazing nose. The wind was blowing in our face and he goes "I can smell a buck" I was like WTH is this guy nuts? sure enough a buck comes strolling out of the pine trees where the does bed.

Smelling bucks isn't uncommon during the rut. I have a mediocre nose and have smelled them. Hard rutting bucks can get pretty stinky.

Bob

I totally agree with this. I have killed bucks in the rut that I have actually smelled before I got a visual on them. Most of them have been in very thick cover and using wind direction I've picked a piece of deer out of the brush and was all set up for them when they hit my shooting lane.





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[UofLbowhunter]

When i buy a new pair of rubber boots for hunting i will most alway take them to a creek or pond or something and smear mud on them from top to bottom then wash them off in the creek. I think people seem not to think about the use of treated water sources that have been chemically treated for drinking, its not natural to deer and they smell it. I dont even wash my clothes or anything in the washing machine in our house. I hand wash in creek water. I think this is often over looked and it leaves scent on the ground as well. I also will not wear my hunting boots for any thing else but hunting. I some times use sprays ( scent killers)but not as often as i use to but i think in high pressure areas deer seem to know the smells of these sprays and react to it ,so sometimes as im walking to stand i will drag and rub my boots on the ground in dirt or cornstalks or what ever to try to cover my boot trail. Some times it works and some it dont. Most of the time i think i just get busted from my body scent in the wind but i have noticed that ive seen deer more than once walk over my trail with nose to ground and just keep on walkin. Who really know, but treated water is something to think about!

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[Wlog]

A guy I hunt with has an amazing nose. The wind was blowing in our face and he goes "I can smell a buck" I was like WTH is this guy nuts? sure enough a buck comes strolling out of the pine trees where the does bed.

Smelling bucks isn't uncommon during the rut. I have a mediocre nose and have smelled them. Hard rutting bucks can get pretty stinky.

Bob

[ Post made via iPad ]

I actually smell deer pretty often. Sometimes it will be really pungent and other times I'll just catch a whiff then I lose it. I don't have a great nose or anything, I just think if you are going slow and are absorbing your surroundings moving through the woods, you are more likely to pick up on that kind of stuff.

Public or private makes no difference. If you have a small (say less than 200 acre) private spot with pre hung stands, I treat those areas in the same manner as public. I would still only hunt those spots no more than a couple times of year. If you are purely talking during rut, that's a little different because different bucks that aren't as familiar with the property will show up. But outside of rut I don't have any success going to the same stands repeatedly.

It really depends on what you consider successful. If flat out seeing deer is your goal than, sure, you can have a rotation of stands and hunt the right winds and probably shoot some deer, no doubt. If success means shooting the biggest deer that lives on that property than I don't care what scent precautions you take, he is going to pattern you. If you keep going to the same few stands, walking the same exact way. You need the element of surprise. I like to show up with my stand on my back after not being there for six months.

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[vermonthunter16]

Deer in general definitely have a certain scent that I pick up on as well. The lady thinks I am nuts when I say "I smell deer" and then one takes off from not far up

I have come to the conclusion that no matter what you do, deer will smell you if they get in your wind or catch your access.

[woodswalker]

That certain scent, is a combination of the oily secretions produced by the tarsal gland combine with the bucks urine from when they urinate on the tarsal gland. There is no doubt it can be smelled if the wind is blowing towards you. If you have ever grabbed a bucks hind legs and grabbed the tarsal gland it will take a long time to get rid of the stink on your hands and it does stink. That smell is used as one of the means of communication by deer.

[vermonthunter16]

Naw, I know that scent. I smell it even if its a doe, I may be crazy though.